Chennai,  AMMK General Secretary and nephew of former AIADMK interim General Secretary V.K. Sasikala, T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Sunday called on the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government to bring out an ordinance to ban online games in the state.

In a social media post, the AMMK leader said that recently, a policeman had committed suicide at Coimbatore after losing heavily in an online rummy game, and asked the government how many lives need to be lost before an ordinance is brought to ban online games.

Noting that the government had constituted a panel that had given a report, he asked: "When are they going to find a solution to this?"

Several people, including women and youths, have committed suicide reportedly after heavy losses in online rummy games. Police constable, Kalimuthu, 28, who was attached to the Coimbatore reserve police force, shot himself on Friday and passed away early on Saturday. His relatives and friends had alleged that the cop had around Rs 20 lakh debt as he had borrowed money to square off the debts incurred in online rummy games.